The Unicorn
by falln-angl
Summary: Of unicorns, gifts, and memories.


**Title: **The Unicorn  
**Rating: **PG  
**Summary: **Of unicorns, gifts, and memories.  
**Type of fic: **Vignette  
**Disclaimer:** All recognisable characters and places are not mine. They belong to Marvel and/or Marvel Studios, WB, Film Roman (I think), and whoever else claims rights to them.  
**Author's notes:** My newly acquired Lance muse ordered that this be written and that it be set in the Scott/Rogue-heavy episode, 'On Angel's Wings'. Jealous little guy.

*

**The Unicorn**

It was expensive. Much more than he could afford. Too much. But an intense need urged him to purchase the gift. It was the only Christmas present he was buying year, but it didn't matter. It was for the only person who really mattered anyway.

He felt the phantom heaviness of the notes in his pocket weighing him down. It was good money that could be placed to better use. Food and bare necessities for himself and the others. But the desire to delight the recipient of his gift was much stronger than common sense, and he walked purposely into the store.

*

_'What?' He was stunned._

_'A unicorn,' she repeated, almost with embarrassment. 'Those animals with horns on their foreheads.'_

_'I know what a unicorn is,' he snapped in irritation. She narrowed her eyes at him, and he quickly apologised for his quick temper. 'I just figured you for more of a raven or a crow kind of gal.'_

_'Why, because I dress in black and wear this kind of make up?'_

_'Well…yeah.'_

_'Well, for your information I happen to hate ravens and crows!' She quickly stood and stalked away, the stiffness of her swinging arms a warning of her anger._

_He also rose and hurried after her, silently cursing himself for his insensitivity. 'Rogue, wait! I'm sorry, okay?'_

_She stopped, facing him with her arms crossed. She said nothing as she just stared impassively at him._

_He offered her a smile. 'Okay, so why unicorns?'_

_'Why do you care?'_

_'I do…and I'm curious.'_

_She watched him for a while as if evaluating the sincerity of his words. Then her features slowly softened and she dropped her arms to her side. 'Because they're beautiful and magical.' She paused, and her voice lowered to an almost whisper as she added, 'And because they're the complete opposite of me.'_

_An intangible change had come over her as she answered, and he tried hard to grasp what it was, what it could mean. He searched her eyes for any discernible sign of transformation…and was surprised to find it. The ever-present hardness had vanished, replaced with a vulnerable openness that he had never seen before. The imperceptible glass wall she shielded herself with was gone and all he could see was her. No distortion, no blur, just the real her. He was blown away by the unknown beauty that was distinctly Rogue._

_He couldn't remember having ever wanted to hug someone as much as he wanted to hold her just then. He didn't move. 'How?' His voice had sounded like a croak, and he cleared his throat as discreetly as possible. 'How are they different?'_

_'They have the power to heal,' she said in a slightly awed voice. As she spoke a light seemed to shine in her. 'To bestow health and strength, to protect from all poisons and evils. Unicorns don't take, they give.'_

_He had no need to ask any more questions._

*

'May I help you?' A voice dripping with condescension.

He resisted the urge to cause the prim and meticulously dressed woman to lose her balance. 'I wanted to buy that unicorn necklace on display.'

'I see.' Her eyes flicked over him, her mouth twisting with ill-suppressed disdain. 'I hope you realise, young man, that that particular pendant is of solid sterling silver coated with 24 karat gold. A rare creation. Only -'

His hands clenching into tight fists as he ground out, 'Yes, and I want to buy it.'

*

'Hey, it's Christmas Eve, yo, and you're ditching us?'

'I'm not ditching you, I'm just going out for a walk.'

'Oh, alright. Wait a sec and I'll-'

'By myself.'

'Fine, be like that!'

He watched, half relieved half amused, as the freshman hopped off and back into the house. With Mystique gone the boys had free reign over their own actions. They could leave whenever they wanted and without scrutiny. A suspicious Mystique was a very demanding and maddening Mystique.

As he walked away his fingers grasped the small box in his pocket, reassuring himself that it was still there. He wondered what she would say, how she would react. He hoped to glimpse her again, the real Rogue with no surrounding glass armour.

*

_'Tell me more.'_

_She looked enquiringly at him. The change in her was remarkable, and he could easily make himself believe that this was a different person standing before him. 'Tell you more what?' she said._

_'About unicorns.'_

_'You want to know about unicorns?'_

'I want to know about you,' _he thought, _'I want to know everything about you because you're not at all what I expected.' _Instead, he replied, 'Sure.'_

_A doubtful look came over her face, but then she nodded. 'Okay. Well, the horn of the unicorn is called an alicorn, and it's one of the most powerful of magical items in the world. With its alicorn, a unicorn can purify poisoned or polluted water for other animals to drink. Can you imagine how amazing a gift is that?'_

_He could plainly see how badly she wanted her mutation to be similar to that of a unicorn. With a simple touch the power to heal, to purify. To always be giving instead of taking away. To not have to hide herself and always be conscious of bare skin. To be able to look in the mirror and be proud of herself and what she can do._

_'They're pure and innocent creatures,' she continued, her voice softening once more. 'It's what they are. They have no capacity for evil.'_

_He didn't know how to respond, so he said nothing. The two of them stood in silence, she watching the horizon, he watching her. Her glass screen had returned and she straightened as her back visibly tensed. 'Ah'd better go.'_

_He watched her, still mute, his thoughts on the stunning beauty who dreamed of unicorns._

*

He was expressionless, his tone cordial. 'What may I do for you, Mr Alvers?'

He tried not to look too intimidated. 'I'm looking for Rogue.'

The Professor nodded slightly. 'Ah, yes. I'm sorry to say she's not here.'

He cursed silently. 'But…she doesn't have a family to go to,' he said, then wished he hadn't opened his big mouth.

'She's staying at the Institute for the holidays, yes, and she's already with family.'

'We were her family before you,' he thought viciously, but refrained from saying so. 'But you said she wasn't here.'

'She isn't. She's in the city with Scott.'

The thought of her with, of all people, Summers, made his entire body tense. 'When will she be back?'

'Rogue and Scott will return when the time comes. Would you like me to give her a message from you?' the Professor asked, a suddenly kind look on his face.

His hand tightened on the box in his pocket as he considered his options. He could leave the gift with the Professor and not see her, or he could wait until she returned and give it to her himself. But that would probably mean an unwanted audience. With hesitation he pulled out the box and offered it to the Professor. 'This is for her.'

Without another word, he turned and walked away.

*

Against everything he stood for, Charles reached out and probed the young man's mind for clues to what lay in the neatly wrapped small box. A half-inch unicorn set on a red velvet cushion. It was sculptured of solid sterling silver and coated with 24 karat gold, set with a genuine full-cut diamond, and complete with its own matching 15-inch chain. The detailing of the creature was exquisite, every furrow, groove, and rise painstakingly carved and moulded. It was exceptionally beautiful.

He read the attached message carefully deliberated for countless hours, the need and want for the words to be perfectly convey the feelings behind the delicate gift.

Unicorns are also unique, rare, and loved. Remember that when you look in the mirror.

The significance of the unicorn was lost to Charles, and he dug deeper into the boy's mind. There, a treasured memory: Rogue speaking of the simple virtues of her favourite animal.

But the girl in Mr Alvers' memory was not the same girl whom Charles knew. She was without care or fear, happy, gentle. The two versions of Rogue were difficult for him to reconcile, but he grudgingly admitted to himself that the memory-Rogue was not a figment of the boy's imagination. She was real, possibly even more so than Rogue herself.

Yet that wasn't what concerned him the most. He perceived in the boy's mind a strong bond that he shared with Rogue, a connection that the girl had with no one else, not even Scott. It was dangerous. Rogue's mutation, once harnessed, was extraordinarily powerful. If she was ever to turn her back on the X-Men…

Hating himself for his weakness and distrust, Charles wiped the boy's mind of all traces of having acquired the unicorn pendant. However he hesitated in erasing the memory of Rogue and their talk of unicorns. Charles himself knew the importance of cherished memories, and he knew that he couldn't heartlessly wipe away something so undoubtedly significant in the boy's life. Instead he pushed the memory far back into the subconscious.

As for the gift…

Charles dropped it in the nearest wastepaper basket, mentally reminding himself to reimburse Mr Alvers the high price of the pendant.

***

Inside the carefully wrapped box lay a magnificent gold unicorn, never having reached its intended destination. It lay silently in its velvet home, its only protection against the crushing pressure of the trash receptacle as it attempted to crush a mound of rubbish into the size of an ice cube. The silver jewel box cracked, then grinded against each other.

Without its shelter the unicorn snapped in two.


End file.
